female soldier was specialist britney hampton, from texas. >> i'm just proud, honestly. i'm glad it's over. a sense of relief. >> reporter: military families like hers carried the burden of this war. other americans at times preferred to ignore. hampton's father served four tours in iraq. she's finishing one. her fiance did one too. >> we're going to have christmas at our house this year. that's all i'm looking forward to, all i can think about. >> reporter: now it is over, after many are struggling with injuries, trauma, divorce and anger. today, the troops left with their spirits high. >> it is a great day for not just for me, but for everybody. all the sacrifices the united states made and over the course of the iraq war. >> reporter: a controversial war, perhaps not mission accomplished, but at least now mission complete. also, lester, after all of these years of war, the iraqis have paid a heavy price, about 150,000 iraqis killed since the conflict began. and here it is, lester, the last vehicle. and you can see where the soldiers wrote in chalk, just that, last vehicle out of